Friday, November 30, 2018

EA is offering 10 hours of Battlefield 5 (or whatever) for free

A one-week trial of Origin Access Basic is available to anyone who asks for it on Twitter.

Electronic Arts is offering a seven-day free trial of Origin Access Basic, the subscription-based service that offers free access to 160 existing games and ten-hour trials of new ones. All you have to do is send a direct message to the EA Help Twitter account with the #TRYBFV hashtag, and you're (eventually) in.

Haven’t had the chance to play #BattlefieldV yet? If you’re on PC, direct message us with the hashtag #TRYBFV in the next 24 hours and we’ll get you in the game for a limited time with a 7-day trial for Origin Access Basic.November 30, 2018

Battlefield 5 is obviously the hook here, but since the trial is for Origin Access, you should be able to use it for whatever you want—a solid week of Crysis 2, for instance. (That's not a joke suggestion, by the way—after years of putting it off I literally just finished playing it this week, and it's really good.)
A couple of things to note: The offer is only available for 24 hours, so you've got until roughly 9 am ET on December 1 to claim it, and you'll probably have to wait for a reply. I DM'ed the hashtag at around 1:45 pm ET, and received a response at 4 pm, because instead of using an automated system Origin reps are answering each request individually.
When you do receive a reply, you'll be given a PC-only code to enter into the Origin app. Click the Origin drop-down, then "redeem product code," and copy/paste it in. In return, you'll get a "7 Day Non-Recurring Membership" to Origin Access Basic.
Happily, that means you don't have to sign up and then cancel once the free period is over: After you confirm the code, you'll get a message saying that if you want to continue with the service after it expires, you'll need to either sign up or purchase another block of time.